Will Nikon Follow Suit With Raw Video?

Ever since Magic Lantern managed to provide HD RAW from practically the entire EOS line, Nikon has been left behind. While off the shelf both the Nikon and Canon prosumer line offer similar video capabilities, videographers have been favoring Canon for ML even before the HD RAW patch.

The latest from news from Vitaliy Kiselev, the developer of the popular Ptool suite for Panasonic GH just shared that he saw an interesting string in the D7100 firmware hinting that… OK, it is just a small hint, but it may suggest that a RAW stream can be pulled off. It can also be a joke string placed by developers. Who knows?.

D7100 has fun string present in firmware A:\LvRaw%03d.rawIf someone do not understand, it means LiveView Raw.

Usually we mention Vitaliy in connection with the GH2 hack, while Nikon firmware news usually going to Nikon Hacker. It’s pretty good to know that Vitaliy is also working on something for the Nikon shooters. And while it was mostly under the radar it already provide a number of patches including video time limit removal and different processing options on output files.

My two cents: In a recent article, I suggested that Magic Lantern’s RAW video is the best thing that happens to Canon. While I am in no position to suggest stuff to Nikon marketing team, I am going to make a suggestion anyways: If Vitaliy pulls off RAW video from Nikon you are back in the video game (no pun intended).

Maybe I’m wrong here, but doesn’t the D800E (one of Nikon’s closest price competitors to the 5DMKIII) already do raw footage? It’s a bit of a hassle if I remember since you have to run an external HDD through the HDMI port, but it’s an option nonetheless.

ssp

the d800 has raw video too if you record from the hdmi port lol

Patrick

It is not raw footage, it is uncompressed hdmi output. Raw video is information captured right from the sensor and on to your card without processing (You get full 4:4:4 chroma subsampling with no preset white balance). The uncompressed hdmi output is processed in camera with the image processor, white balance is set and the video is chroma subsampled down to 4:2:2 (the extra raw data is discarded). That is why you don’t get the full dynamic range the camera has to offer with clean hdmi output but is better than the h264 compressed video (4:2:0 chroma subsampling). I believe you also capture at a higher bitrate (10 or 12 bit) with magic lantern than usual 8 bit video, so the colors are even richer (photographic quality).

Greg Easton

I’ve been a Nikon shooter for years. The more I shoot video the more I realize Nikon isn’t really serious about video like Canon is. I’m going to have to go through the painful (and expensive) transition from Nikon to Canon which will also mean that the rest of my team probably will too. All because Canon is drinking Nikon’s milkshake. C’mon, Nikon. Get on the ball….

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